I was actually planning on talking about this topic, and then I had something happen in my life this weekend that undoubtably reinforced my desire to talk about this.

I already told a good part of my recovery story, especially the lead up into my initial sobriety, back in Episode 8. Today I’m going to focus of my story on my goals after figuring out I wanted to stop drinking, and how those goals have changed.

Looking at the goal of stopping drinking through Derek’s Five Factors

Story of my dad

Accepting the defaults in your life – a fascinating study, story about the study at:

Following up on a goal I had from last year, and the lessons I’ve learned

Home Exercise:

This week’s exercise involves critical thinking. Hopefully you’ve made some progress on your goal since Week 1. If not, consider why, and get to the bottom of it.

Too much else going on? (#9, #15)

Don’t know where to start? (#5, #7, #24)

Don’t really want to do the goal you came up with? (#29, #31)

I get that these are very real barriers, but we’ve talked about all of them to varying degrees on this podcast. The numbers after each of those bullet points indicate the podcast episode number where I touch on each of these topics.

If you have made progress, OMG that’s fucking awesome! I hope you’re finding this podcast helpful. If this is you, your next step involves looking at the defaults in your life. Ask yourself:

What are they?

Are you okay with them?

Are they in any way keeping you from fully achieving your goals?

You don’t have to do anything rash about them now if you’re not, but this is an eye-opener week intending to expose where you derive value in your life, and what responsibilities drain you of value that you really don’t need, they just defaulted to you.

My own example with my current goal this semester, and 2 defaults I’m currently rejecting,

Previous Week’s Home Exercises:

Week 1: Set a goal and think about it considering my 5 Factors (Passion, Value, Leverage, Accountability, Sustainability), and areas where you may need to pay special attention to (Passion).

Week 2: Think about what you need for your happiness and well-being. Consider what happiness achieving your goal will bring you. Write down your goal, and why you want it (Accountability).

Week 3: Pick one thing Zack and I talked about in the interview that will help you in reaching your goal, block out space in your calendar this week to do that one thing, and do it (Sustainability).